Cirrus@Austlit

'Writers who have shaped Australia's beliefs and attitudes and flavoured its culture.

'Our knowledge and ideas about the world are shaped by writers - poets, novelists, playwrights and journalists. The 1800s were a time of turbulence and change in the Australian colonies with droughts, strikes, bushrangers and long periods of mass unemployment. The freethinking writers of the time were often called radical but they were the voice for change in this new country - and their influence is still evident today.' (Publication summary)

'Mary MacKillop changed the course of Australia's history.

'Mary MacKillop watched Australia grow from a collection of small colonies into a nation - and she was proud of the country she had a part in creating. How did Australia change in her lifetime? And how much influence did Mary MacKillop have in shaping Australia?

'Mary MacKillop is one of the most influential people in Australia's history.

Mary MacKillop is well-known for being Australia's first and so far only saint.' (Publication summary)

'I don’t want to go to Australia. I have just started grammar school. My best friend Sally goes there too. But it looks like there could be another war and Dad has convinced Mum to go. Because we’re migrants, the voyage is costing Mum and Dad only £10 each. My brother Brian and I are travelling free. It’s a long way to Australia. What if we never come back to England? In the 1950s and 60s Australia welcomed thousands of British immigrants as part of the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme. Ten Pound Pom is the true story of award-winning author Carole Wilkinson’s immigration to Australia.' (Publication summary)